Kathy Cook

Kathy ranks alongside Dorothy Hyman as Britain’s best ever female sprinter—but has the added prowess of being terrific at 400m as well—indeed she is the only Briton, male or female, to make Olympic finals in the 100m, 200m and 400m. A winner of 19 major championship medals, the most ever by a British woman, Kathy was invariably in the world’s top 3 or 4 but, despite peaking perfectly for every major champs she always found someone too good for her. No disgrace of course when she competed with the likes of Koch, Wockel, Gohr, Ashford and Ottey. Her three Gold medals came in 4x100m at the Commonwealth games whilst her finest runs where the two silvers over 200m she claimed in Athens and Brisbane in 1982 although she is perhaps best remembered for her 400m Olympic bronze in LA two years later—the only time she ran full out over one lap. Eleven times a winner at the WAAA’s Kathy held British records at 100m, 400m and 4x100m for over a quarter of a century and today still has ownership of the 200m which has been hers alone since 1980!